Jump to content
IGNORED

Lack of striker options


Marlborough Red

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

He's been injured for ages tinman...........

However I'll take the time to explain firstly that Djuric although not the greatest player causes problems for the opposition with his height and ability to hold the ball up. He's another option up top - why do you suppose LJ has stuck Flint up there when he needed another option?

Secondly, LJ and MA have been implementing SLs strategy/philosophy of signing young players in and effort to develop them. That's why so many younger players are out on loan - playing men's football in competitive leagues - just as Liverpool are doing with Ryan Kent and Chelsea did  with Tammy.

When these guys return to AG they'll hopefully have enough quality to push for a place in the first team squad. If not then they move on with a small profit.

To say that mistakes have been made with transfers is very shortsighted on your part.

Totally agree, this years success feels like an unexpected bonus with eyes firmly on next year for a push. Pretty sure when pressed on the subject the club stated that it wasn't going to spend a fortune in January chasing promotion. This year is a step forward and I can see that trend continuing next year, no reason to think otherwise irrespective of recent form which is more down to us finding a level which is likely top 10. Still a massive improvement on last year in all areas. We all just need to have a little faith, patience and belief. Ahmen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

He's been injured for ages tinman...........

However I'll take the time to explain firstly that Djuric although not the greatest player causes problems for the opposition with his height and ability to hold the ball up. He's another option up top - why do you suppose LJ has stuck Flint up there when he needed another option?

Secondly, LJ and MA have been implementing SLs strategy/philosophy of signing young players in and effort to develop them. That's why so many younger players are out on loan - playing men's football in competitive leagues - just as Liverpool are doing with Ryan Kent and Chelsea did  with Tammy.

When these guys return to AG they'll hopefully have enough quality to push for a place in the first team squad. If not then they move on with a small profit.

To say that mistakes have been made with transfers is very shortsighted on your part.

Exactly. He's been injured pretty much since he signed over one year ago. Always a danger with that type of player who hasn't played in the Champ before. I would love to see decent cover for Diedhiou who seems to be growing all the time but there will need to come a point where Djuric can remain fit and actually show us what he is about. Baffling how he was due back in early January and now we are nearly mid March next week. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

Personally I don't think we've seen enough of Dionsey to form a firm opinion just yet. 

From the brief glimpses of him he's undoubtedly a strong and powerful but he doesn't seem yet to have made the step up from French football to the Championship - possibly because he hasn't had enough game time.

 

And this is the problem - being January (not pre/start of season) we needed a signing that could hit the ground running. By all accounts, he was out of sorts in the French league, so to ask him to adapt to Championship football and rediscover his form was a big ask. And it looks to have been too big an ask judging by the game time LJ trusts him with. It looks to be a waste of a signing I’m afraid. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Really don’t think up front is the issue.

Bobby is in the form of his life, & despite a lengthy injury absence Famara has already scored more goals than any second striker has since we went back up.

Two goals at Leeds, 3 v Sunderland, we shouldn’t need to score two away every game to get a point.

Spot on.  We keep giving goals away.  Mostly due to individual mistakes.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

48 minutes ago, Maggersno1Fan said:

Something only he sees/knows/understands.

 

 I wouldn’t get tangled in his web like many others have /do/still are.

I see you're a newbie and yet you feel qualified to have a pop at my posts ...............:disapointed2se:

Yeah, I know. You've been reading the forum for ages.............:sleeping:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, The Bard said:

Spot on.  We keep giving goals away.  Mostly due to individual mistakes.  

Indeed a similar lat night showed.

It'll be fascinating to see how well City defend without Flint for three games and Bryan for two. Hopefully Baker will be available for the trip to Burton.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Marlborough Red said:

Quality of goal scoring options on bench tonight simply not good enough for a team challenging the play offs.. Once again nobody available to change the game in our favour. How many goals have the following 8 strikers in our squad scored this season ? Less than 5 between them ?

Woodrow

Leko  (now left)

Eliasson

Engvall

Diony

Kent

Taylor

Duric

 

How much have the club forked out in wages / fees for these players ?   The only one likely to get near the first team is Duric (when fit) IMO

Would rather have a smaller squad and forked out for quality not quantity. Must be almost impossible to keep these fringe players occupied , engaged and motivated when they know LJ has no trust in their ability to add value to the team and therefore won't play them even when a goal down away from home and we need a result.

Clear out required in the summer , rather see academy players given a chance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking at that list Eliasson and kent are not strikers, they are wingers and should be supplying chances more than scoring goals. 
That said, Taylor, Diony, Engvall and Woodrow all seem pointless in keeping. Taylor has had multiple opportunities and just isn't anywhere near as impacting as Diedhiou or Reid, Woodrow has been flat out crap, Engvall never seems to get a real chance so I don;t see why he's even still here and Diony set alarm bells ringing for me before he even arrived as you don;t pay £9m for a striker and then loan him out with a view to buy 6 months later without good reason.

For me Diedhiou, Reid and Duric are our only strikers and I would send Diony and Woodrow packing at the end of the season, sell Taylor and Engvall and bring in another striker in the mould of Bobby, young, hungry and a very high work rate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, Spike said:



For me Diedhiou, Reid and Duric are our only strikers and I would send Diony and Woodrow packing at the end of the season, sell Taylor and Engvall and bring in another striker in the mould of Bobby, young, hungry and a very high work rate.

No argument there.

We are blessed with our best front pairing in years.

The back ups? Not so much..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, Spike said:

For me Diedhiou, Reid and Duric are our only strikers and I would send Diony and Woodrow packing at the end of the season, sell Taylor and Engvall and bring in another striker in the mould of Bobby, young, hungry and a very high work rate.

Woodrow I agree with. In the opportunities he's had he's failed to impress anyone

Dionsey on the hand.....I posted on another thread that he's not had much game time in the Championship and is certainly finding the transition from French football to English football difficult with so little match time.

Its premature to dismiss him just yet. The guy obviously has ability but we haven't seen his full potential so far. A goal would make a big difference to him I reckon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An exercise in making a fair analysis:

Only use the knowledge you had about a player before he arrived at City.

Diony - a striker that Saint-Étienne paid £9M for in the summer of 2017

Kent - highly regarded by Liverpool. Made a big impact on loan at Championship side Barnsley

Woodrow - an emergency/urgent loan when we needed cover and we were short of strikers. Had a good spell at Championship side Burton

I agree with @Spike that alarm bells should be ringing for an expensive player who achieves so little that the owning club wants to send him out on loan with a view to a sale.

But, the majority of the criticism in this thread is directed at each player's performance since they arrived at Ashton Gate. But they are loans. Our outlay will not be anywhere near the cost of buying a Championship/Premier League player with a proven track record. You win some, you lose some.

Signing Kodjia and Diedhiou for significant sums shows the club know when to buy a player. Signing Baker on loan also showed us his ability such that buying him from Villa was a no-brainer. All good transfer decisions.

I understand the frustration but don't just be wise with hindsight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Robbored said:

Personally I don't think we've seen enough of Dionsey to form a firm opinion just yet. 

From the brief glimpses of him he's undoubtedly a strong and powerful but he doesn't seem yet to have made the step up from French football to the Championship - possibly because he hasn't had enough game time.

 

I don’t think we have seen anything of “Dionsey” at all..

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

Woodrow I agree with. In the opportunities he's had he's failed to impress anyone

Dionsey on the hand.....I posted on another thread that he's not had much game time in the Championship and is certainly finding the transition from French football to English football difficult with so little match time.

Its premature to dismiss him just yet. The guy obviously has ability but we haven't seen his full potential so far. A goal would make a big difference to him I reckon.

Who is Dionsey?

Seriously, do you do this shit on purpose?

The bloke’s surname is 5 letters long and is actually in a post that you quoted.

******* bizarre.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

I don’t think we have seen anything of “Dionsey” at all..

Who is Dionsey?

Seriously, do you do this shit on purpose?

The bloke’s surname is 5 letters long and is actually in a post that you quoted.

******* bizarre.

You don't who I mean?  He's the guy with pineapple on his head. Played in the French league?   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This time last year, Reid, O'Dowda and Paterson would have been on that list.

Let's see how the likes of Eliasson, Engvall and Diony (if he stays) are doing next this time next year.

And to the inevitable replies of "we need them now, not next year": rubbish. Rome wasn't built in a day and nor were most successful football teams. This team has time on its side and is improving all the time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, BCFC_Dan said:

This time last year, Reid, O'Dowda and Paterson would have been on that list.

Let's see how the likes of Eliasson, Engvall and Diony (if he stays) are doing next this time next year.

And to the inevitable replies of "we need them now, not next year": rubbish. Rome wasn't built in a day and nor were most successful football teams. This team has time on its side and is improving all the time.

I don't actually agree with your last sentence.

Firstly ,  we are not ' improving ' but going backwards, since the beginning of the year. 

Secondly the likes of Flint , Smith , Fielding etc are at their peaks age wise . 

I think if we don't go up this year the old guard will move on and a new team will be formed.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

I don't actually agree with your last sentence.

Firstly ,  we are not ' improving ' but going backwards, since the beginning of the year. 

Secondly the likes of Flint , Smith , Fielding etc are at their peaks age wise . 

I think if we don't go up this year the old guard will move on and a new team will be formed.

 

Point 1: We weren't significantly better at the start of the year. We lost to Birmingham, scraped a draw at Brentford and failed to beat Millwall. OTIB was expecting another relegation battle. We had a good run from September to January, interspersed with some poor results (Leeds, Preston, Burton) and it was clear that a number of the players had improved from last season. In January we had a large number of tough games and some of the players simply ran out of energy. They've struggled to recapture their form but showed it against Sheffield Wednesday.

If you compare the worst recent performances to the best from earlier in the season then you can say we've gone backwards but only if you cherry pick in that manner. Otherwise it's more a case of a few disappointing results in tough recent games. This season compared to last season has shown a substantial improvement.

Point 2: Fielding is 29, Flint is 28, Smith is 27. They might be at around peak age but that's a pretty broad thing (and later for goalkeepers). I see no reason to expect any of them to drop off drastically in the next couple of years, and if they leave it will be for decent money as they are under contract.

I don't think there are really any 'old guard' to move on. It's a pretty young and closely knit squad. If anyone moves it'll be because the management wants them to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, Marlborough Red said:

Quality of goal scoring options on bench tonight simply not good enough for a team challenging the play offs.. Once again nobody available to change the game in our favour. How many goals have the following 8 strikers in our squad scored this season ? Less than 5 between them ?

Woodrow

Leko  (now left)

Eliasson

Engvall

Diony

Kent

Taylor

Duric

 

How much have the club forked out in wages / fees for these players ?   The only one likely to get near the first team is Duric (when fit) IMO

Would rather have a smaller squad and forked out for quality not quantity. Must be almost impossible to keep these fringe players occupied , engaged and motivated when they know LJ has no trust in their ability to add value to the team and therefore won't play them even when a goal down away from home and we need a result.

Clear out required in the summer , rather see academy players given a chance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not given a chance is not the same as not good enough 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Dingbat said:

And this is the problem - being January (not pre/start of season) we needed a signing that could hit the ground running. By all accounts, he was out of sorts in the French league, so to ask him to adapt to Championship football and rediscover his form was a big ask. And it looks to have been too big an ask judging by the game time LJ trusts him with. It looks to be a waste of a signing I’m afraid. 

Playing devil’s advocate for a moment....

....if LJ thinks Reid and Diedhiou are his first choice partnership when he plays a two, but thinks this guy (Diony) might be a real star, but is just lacking confidence, and we could integrate him gradually this season, but really get him up to speed over the summer at an agreed fee....then it might make a lot of sense.  He doesn’t need to play him loads, because he’s already got two banging them in (30 goal partnership).

Now, whether Diony would buy into that is another matter, but i’m Just trying to make a suggestion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Playing devil’s advocate for a moment....

....if LJ thinks Reid and Diedhiou are his first choice partnership when he plays a two, but thinks this guy (Diony) might be a real star, but is just lacking confidence, and we could integrate him gradually this season, but really get him up to speed over the summer at an agreed fee....then it might make a lot of sense.  He doesn’t need to play him loads, because he’s already got two banging them in (30 goal partnership).

Now, whether Diony would buy into that is another matter, but i’m Just trying to make a suggestion.

If we grind down Diony even more he will be worth bugger all in the summer and we could pick him up for next to nothing.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looked very promising v QPR, I thought (many didn’t) he did ok v Sunderland, but other games he hasn’t done anywhere near enough.

With Diedhiou and Reid (big assumption they’ll both be here) as our main two, plus Djúric, Taylor (even though I think he’ll go) and Hinds, McCoulsky coming through, do we need to be spending £5-8m?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, JoeAman08 said:

I disagree with a lot of what you said but agree on your main point. Give the younger players a chance. Personally, would not have brough in Kent. Instead would have played Eliasson. If I was getting offers for Magnússon, I would have let him go for the right price and blooded Kelly. Even Liam Walsh had a good spell in L2 and a couple games in the championship yet we have Joe Morrell at a similar age having a good spell in L2(not that I think Walsh is bad just possibly redundant). 

So yea we did need the players. They weren’t brought in to be as underwhelming as they have been. They were brought in to compete and make the squad stronger and they have. Don’t underestimate the effect new players have motivating players already here by threatening to take their spot. Though I think there are a few instances where I would have looked for solutions in house. 

What point exactly do you disagree with Joe?

interesting that you say our Jan signings are 'underwhelming ' you were adamant in Jan that we should not spend 'big'!

Have events of the last 2 months changed your opinion? ( serious question and not being aggressive) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, ScottishRed said:

What point exactly do you disagree with Joe?

interesting that you say our Jan signings are 'underwhelming ' you were adamant in Jan that we should not spend 'big'!

Have events of the last 2 months changed your opinion? ( serious question and not being aggressive) 

No. I am happy with who we brought in and that we didn’t gamble our future finances on big wage and fee players. Just admitting that the players that have come in have not helped the squad enough. That could have been the case had chose to spend big. Imagine if Gary Madine was our record signing and top 5 highest paid player. No I am happy we did not go that route. 

What I disagreed with was that he saw it as a waste of wages on the players he mentioned. Whereas I just feel they haven’t been utilised correctly. I feel some of those he mentioned are good players that just need the opportunity of 3 or so starts to find a rhythm. With our injuries it could have happened but it didn’t. So where it looks like we have a big squad with a good first XI and nothing to change a game. I think we do have game changers but with LJ not using his full squad they have become bit part players and that can’t be good for their comfidence. I am convinced the likes of Eliasson, Diony and Djuric(injuries tbf) would be stellar bench options had they been used the right way. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

Pato and Reid are another option if Diedhiou and Djuric become unavailable. With them and Taylor as well, I think we have decent options. Ideally I'd like another one with pace, on the shoulder type. I don't think we should spend loads when we already have good options. Maybe bring in another youngster. Hoping that at least one of Engvall, McClousky, Hinds and Semenyo make it with us. But can't see any of them doing so as soon as next season.

Djuric played part of the u23s yesterday so hopefully he won't be too far away to be available again. Taylor had the groin op but I'm not aware of how far away he is.  

Dionsey hasn't yet had enough game time to adapt to the Championship but I read yesterday that his form had dipped when still in France so if/when he gets his mojo back we'll see what he's capable of. That said with so few matches left he could be returning to France without a deal,

When all the strikers are fit and available LJ will have a plethora of selection options.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...